Operation "Odyssey Dawn" - Libya #2

Here, according to Gates, is Obama's thinking on "what next?" From the Associated Press:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that the U.S. expects to turn control of the Libya military mission over to a coalition -- probably headed either by the French and British or by NATO -- "in a matter of days." . . .

Gates said President Barack Obama felt very strongly about limiting America's role in the operation, adding that the president is "more aware than almost anybody of the stress on the military."

"We agreed to use our unique capabilities and the breadth of those capabilities at the front of this process, and then we expected in a matter of days to be able to turn over the primary responsibility to others," Gates told reporters traveling with him to Russia. "We will continue to support the coalition, we will be a member of the coalition, we will have a military role in the coalition, but we will not have the preeminent role."

The two key possibilities, he said, are a combined British-French command or the use of a NATO command. He acknowledged there is "some sensitivity on the part of the Arab League to being seen to be operating under a NATO umbrella."

From a separate AP release: NATO has approved an arms embargo on Libya, but Turkey's opposition to any NATO intervention in Libya stalled the approval of plans to participate in the no-fly patrols.

NATO members France, Britain and the United States have been carrying out strikes on Libyan targets since Saturday. But they have acted as individual nations rather than members of the alliance.

Ralph